Queísmo e dequeísmo na escrita brasileira contemporânea: uma análise variacionista

Abstract

This work aims to describe and analyze the phenomenon of “queism” (preposition deletion) and “dequeism” (preposition insertion) in finite completive subordinate clauses in contemporary written Brazilian Portuguese, based on the theoretical assumptions of Variationist Sociolinguistics (Labov, 2008 [1972]; Weinreich; Herzog, 2006 [1968]) and Usage-Based Linguistics (Bybee, 2016 [2010]), in order to explain the phenomena, not only as a typically variable phenomenon, but also through the concepts of analogy and frequency of use. These phenomena are investigated primarily as cases of syntactic variation regarding the use of the preposition “de” (of) before the complementizer “que” (that). Specifically, I sought to investigate in what syntactic and/or discursive contexts speakers of contemporary Brazilian Portuguese tend to omit a preposition required by the predicate of the parent clause or to insert a preposition not required by the predicate of the main clause. From this investigation, 902 occurrences of complement clauses were collected for the analysis of queism (excessive use of that), of wich 437 occurrences were found, and 1154 occurrences of complement clauses were collected for the analysis of dequeism (excessive use of that), of which 75 occurrences were found. The results were obtained after submitting the data to vaiable rule analysis (“Binominal, Up and Down”) in the GoldVarb-X program. This dissertation also analyzes adjective, noun, and verb complements, functioning as subject, nominal complement, direct object, and oblique object. Among the complement clauses selected by adjective, I described those related to the adjectival predicates “probable”, “certain”, “important”, “possible” and “necessary”; regarding those predicated by nominal predicates, I examined those selected by the words “certainty”, “conviction”, “importance”, “necessity”, “possibility”, and “probability”; among those selected by verbal predicates, in turn, I considered those that complement the words “to forget”, “to remember”, “to convince oneself”, “to doubt”, “to need”, “to like” and “to recall”. The source of the analyzed data is the Corpus of Portuguese: Now subsample, which gathers news from newspapers and magazines published on the internet, allowing us to analyze data from contemporary written language in journalistic texts and, at the same time, examine varied textual genres, since they are disseminated through internet sites. Throughout this dissertation, I described the phenomena through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data, showing how linguistic and extralinguistic factors influence the variables discussed here. In terms of contribution, this work shows how variation occurs systematically, and not as an “error”. Furthermore, it contributes to expanding knowledge about the syntax of Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the mechanisms that guide linguistic variation.